University of Toronto

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University of Toronto
Motto:	Velut arbor ævo (Latin)
Motto in English:	As a tree through the ages[1]
Established:	March 15, 1827
Type:	Public university
Endowment:	C$1.755 billion[2]
Chancellor:	David Peterson
President:	David Naylor
Faculty:	5,970[3]
Staff:	9,216[4]
Undergraduates:	33,627[4]
Postgraduates:	10,592[4]
Location:	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Campus:	Urban, 68 hectares (168 acres)
Former names:	King's College (1827–1849)
Colours:	Blue and white
Nickname:	Varsity Blues
Athletics:	CIS, OUA 44 varsity teams
Affiliations:	AAU, ACU, AUCC, G13, IAU, WUN, CBIE
Website:	utoronto.ca

The University of Toronto (U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its main campus lies about a mile north of the city's Financial District, surrounding Queen's Park. The university was founded by Royal Charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in the colony of Upper Canada. Originally controlled by the Church of England, it assumed the present name in 1850 upon becoming a secular institution. As a collegiate university, the University of Toronto consists of twelve colleges that differ in character and history, each retaining substantial autonomy. It operates sixteen academic faculties, ten teaching hospitals and numerous research institutes, with two satellite campuses at Scarborough and Mississauga.

In academics, the University of Toronto is noted for its influential movements and curricula in literary criticism and communication theory, known as the Toronto school, where the concepts of "the medium is the message" and the "global village" originated. The university was the birthplace of insulin and stem cell research, and was the site of the first practical electron microscope, the development of multi-touch technology, and the identification of Cygnus X-1 as a black hole. It is also home to the Fields Institute, a centre for mathematical studies. The University of Toronto has the highest research expenditures of any university in Canada.

Contents 1 History 2 Grounds 3 Governance and colleges 4 Academics 4.1 Library and collections 4.2 Medical institutes 4.3 Reputation 5 Research 6 Athletics 7 Student life 7.1 Clubs and activities 7.2 Student media 7.3 Activism 7.4 Residences 8 Notable people 9 See also 10 References 11 Further reading 12 External links

[edit] History

The founding of a colonial college had long been the desire of John Graves Simcoe, the first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada. An Oxford-educated military commander who fought in the American Revolutionary War, Simcoe felt that a college would be needed to counter the spread of republicanism from the United States.^[5] The Upper Canada Executive Committee recommended in 1798 that a college be established in York, the colonial capital.^[5]

On March 15, 1827, a Royal Charter was formally issued by George IV of the United Kingdom, proclaiming "from this time one College, with the style and privileges of an University … for the education of youth in the principles of the Christian Religion, and for their instruction in the various branches of Science and Literature … to continue for ever, to be called King's College." The granting of the charter was largely the result of intense lobbying by John Strachan, the influential Anglican Bishop of Toronto who took office as the first president of the college.^[6] The original three storey Greek Revival school building was constructed on the present site of Queen's Park.^[7]

Under Strachan's guidance, King's College was a strongly Anglican institution that closely aligned with the Church of England and the British colonial elite known as the Family Compact.^[8] Reformist politicians opposed the clergy's control over colonial institutions and fought to have the college secularized.^[9] After a lengthy and heated public debate, the newly-elected responsible government of Upper Canada passed a law in 1849 to rename King's College as the University of Toronto, officially ending its ties with the Anglican Church. Having anticipated this decision, the enraged Strachan had resigned in 1848 to open Trinity College, a private Anglican seminary.^[10] University College was created as the nondenominational teaching branch of the University of Toronto. During the American Civil War, the threat from Union blockade on British North America prompted the creation of the University Rifle Corps, which saw battle in resisting the Fenian raids on the Niagara border in 1866.^[11]

Established in 1878, the School of Practical Science was precursor to the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering, which has been nicknamed Skule since the earliest days of its predecessor.^[12] While the Faculty of Medicine opened in 1843, medical teaching was conducted by proprietary schools from 1853 until the faculty absorbed the Toronto School of Medicine in 1887, although it continued to set examinations and award medical degrees during that time.^[13] The university opened the Faculty of Law in 1887, and the Faculty of Dentistry was formed when the Royal College of Dental Surgeons, founded 1875, affiliated with the university in 1888. Women were admitted to the university for the first time in 1884.^[14]

A devastating fire in 1890 gutted the interior of University College and devoured thirty-three thousand volumes from the library,^[15] but the university restored the building and replenished its library within two years.^[15] The collegiate system began to take shape as the university arranged federation with several ecclesiastical colleges, including Strachan's Trinity College. The university operated the Royal Conservatory of Music from 1896 to 1991 and the Royal Ontario Museum from 1912 to 1968; both still retain close ties with the university as independent institutions. The University of Toronto Press was founded in 1901 as the first academic publishing house in Canada. In 1910, the Faculty of Education opened its laboratory school, the University of Toronto Schools.

The First and Second World Wars curtailed some university activities as undergraduate and graduate men eagerly enlisted.^[16][17] Intercollegiate athletic competitions and the Hart House Debates were suspended, although exhibition and interfaculty games were still held.^[17] The David Dunlap Observatory in Richmond Hill opened in 1935, followed by the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies in 1949. The university opened regional campuses in Scarborough in 1964 and in Mississauga in 1967. Created in 1959 as a subsidiary, York University became a fully independent institution in 1965. Beginning in the 1980s, reductions in government funding prompted more rigorous fundraising efforts. The University of Toronto was the first Canadian university to amass a financial endowment greater than C$1 billion.

[edit] Grounds

The main campus is situated about a mile north of the financial district in Downtown Toronto and immediately south of the neighbourhoods Yorkville and The Annex. Sometimes referred to as St. George campus, it encompasses 68 hectares (168 acres) bounded by Bay Street, Bloor Street, Spadina Avenue and College Street.^[4] An enclave surrounded by university grounds, Queen's Park is the site of the Ontario Legislature and several historic monuments. With its forested landscape and many interlocking courtyards, the university forms a distinct region of urban parkland in the city's downtown core.^[18] The namesake University Avenue is a ceremonial boulevard and arterial thoroughfare that runs through downtown between Queen's Park and Front Street. Located near the campus are the Spadina, St. George, Museum and Queen's Park stations of the Toronto subway.

The architecture is defined by a combination of Romanesque and Gothic Revival buildings spread across the eastern and central portions of campus, most of them dated between 1858 and 1929. The traditional heart of the university, known as Front Campus, lies near the centre in an oval lawn enclosed by King's College Circle.^[18] The centrepiece is the main building of University College, a National Historic Site, designed by Frederick William Cumberland in an eclectic blend of Richardsonian Romanesque and Norman architectural elements.^[19] Convocation Hall, built in 1907 with a gift from the alumni association, is recognizable for its domed roof and Ionic pillared rotunda. Although its foremost function is to host the annual convocation ceremonies, the building serves as a venue for academic and social events throughout the year.^[20] The sandstone buildings of Knox College epitomizes the North American collegiate Gothic design, with the characteristic cloisters around a secluded courtyard.

A green lawn at the northeast is anchored by Hart House, a Late Gothic student complex. Among its assorted common rooms, the most architecturally significant is a Great Hall that features high timbered ceilings and stained glass windows.^[21] To its west, Soldiers' Tower stands 143 feet (44 m) tall as the most prominent structure in the vicinity, its stone arches inscribed with the names of university members lost to the battlefields of the world wars. The tower houses a 51-bell carillon that is played on special occasions such as Remembrance Day and convocation.^[22] The oldest surviving building on campus is the former Toronto Magnetic and Meteorological Observatory building, built in 1855 and now home to the students' union.^[23] The engineering faculty's Sandford Fleming Building exemplifies Edwardian Baroque architecture. Trinity College borders the Back Campus lawn to the north of University College, its main building displaying the Jacobethan Tudor style. Its chapel is designed in the Perpendicular Gothic style by English architect Giles Gilbert Scott, featuring exterior walls of limestone and interiors of marble quarried from Indiana, and constructed by Italian stonemasons using ancient building methods.^[24] Victoria College is located across from Queen's Park, with its intricate main building built from red sandstone and grey limestone.

Developed after the Second World War, the western section of the campus between St. George Street and Spadina Avenue consist mainly of modernist and internationalist structures.^[18] Notable post-war buildings include the Lash Miller Chemical Laboratories, Wetmore Hall and Wilson Hall of New College, and Sidney Smith Hall. The most significant example of Brutalist architecture is the Robarts Library complex, a large fourteen-storey concrete structure built in 1972. Newer buildings completed after 2001 include the Bahen Centre for Information Technology, the Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, and the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy Building designed by Norman Foster.

[edit] Governance and colleges

The University of Toronto has traditionally been a decentralized institution, with governing authority shared among its central administration, academic faculties and colleges.^[25] The Governing Council is the unicameral legislative organ of the central administration, overseeing general academic, business and institutional affairs.^[26] Before 1971, the university was governed under a bicameral system composed of the board of governors and the university senate.^[25] The chancellor, usually a former governor-general, lieutenant governor, premier or diplomat, is the ceremonial head of the university. The president is appointed by council as the chief executive.^[26]

Unlike most North American institutions, the University of Toronto is a collegiate university with a model that resembles those of the University of Cambridge, Durham University and the University of Oxford in Britain.^[27] The colleges hold substantial autonomy over admissions, scholarships, programs and other academic and financial affairs, in addition to the housing and social duties of typical residential colleges.^[26][27] The system emerged in the 19th century, as ecclesiastical colleges considered various forms of union with the University of Toronto to ensure their viability. The desire to preserve religious traditions in a secular institution resulted in the federative collegiate model that came to characterize the university.^[27]

University College was the founding nondenominational college, created in 1853 after the university was secularized. Knox College, a Presbyterian institution, and Wycliffe College, a low church seminary, both encouraged their students to study for non-divinity degrees at University College.^[28] In 1885, they entered a formal affiliation with the University of Toronto, and became federated schools in 1890.^[29][30] The idea of federation initially met strong opposition at Victoria University, a Methodist school in Cobourg, but a financial incentive in 1890 convinced the school to join.^[31] Decades after the death of John Strachan, the Anglican seminary University of Trinity College entered federation in 1904,^[32] followed in 1910 by the University of St. Michael's College, a Roman Catholic college founded by the Basilian Fathers.^[33] Among the institutions that had considered federation but ultimately remained independent were McMaster University, a Baptist school that later moved to Hamilton,^[28] and Queen's College, a Presbyterian school in Kingston that later became Queen's University.^[34]

Colleges of the University of Toronto

Constituent colleges Innis College New College University College Woodsworth College Theological colleges Knox College Regis College Wycliffe College

Federated universities University of St. Michael's College University of Trinity College St. Hilda's College Victoria University Emmanuel College Graduate college Massey College

The post-war era saw the creation of New College in 1962, Innis College in 1964 and Woodsworth College in 1974, all of them nondenominational.^[35] Along with University College, they comprise the university's constituent colleges, which are established and funded by the central administration and are therefore financially dependent.^[36][2] Massey College was established in 1963 by the Massey Foundation as a college exclusively for graduate students.^[37] Regis College, a Jesuit seminary, entered federation with the university in 1979.^[38]

In contrast with the constituent colleges, the colleges of Knox, Massey, Regis, St. Michael's, Trinity, Victoria and Wycliffe continue to exist as legally distinct entities, each possessing a sizable financial endowment. While St. Michael's, Trinity and Victoria continue to recognize their religious affiliations and heritage, they have since adopted secular policies of enrollment and teaching in non-divinity subjects.^[36] Some colleges have, or once had, collegiate structures of their own: Emmanuel College is a college of Victoria and St. Hilda's College is part of Trinity;^[39][32] St. Joseph’s College had existed as a college within St. Michael's until it was dissolved in 2006.^[33] Ewart College existed as an affiliated college until 1991, when it was merged into Knox College.^[40] The theological colleges of Emmanuel, Knox, Regis, St. Michael's, Trinity and Wycliffe form part of the Toronto School of Theology.^[41]

[edit] Academics

Each of the university's faculties maintains a separate admission process and set of academic programs. The Faculty of Arts and Science is the main undergraduate faculty.^[42] While the colleges are not entirely responsible for teaching duties, most of them house or sponsor unique academic programs and lecture series. Among other things, Trinity College is associated with programs in international relations, as are University College with peace and conflict studies, Victoria College with Renaissance studies, Innis College with film studies, New College with gender studies, and St. Michael's College with Medievalism. The Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering is the only other faculty that allows direct-entry into bachelor's degree programs from secondary institutions; undergraduate programs in other faculties generally admit by second entry.^[43] The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education is the teachers college of the university. It is home to the Institute of Child Study and is affiliated with the university's laboratory school, the University of Toronto Schools. Autonomous institutes include the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies and the Fields Institute.

The University of Toronto is the birthplace of an influential school of thought on communication theory and literary criticism, known as the Toronto School of communications.^[44][45][46] The school is described as "the theory of the primacy of communication in the structuring of human cultures and the structuring of the human mind."^[46] Rooted in the works of Eric A. Havelock and Harold Innis, it grew to prominence with the contributions of Edmund Snow Carpenter, Northrop Frye and Marshall McLuhan, who coined the expressions "the medium is the message" and "global village". Since 1963, the McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology has carried the mandate for teaching and advancing the Toronto School.^[47]

The Munk Centre for International Studies provides undergraduate and graduate curricula with international focuses. As the Cold War began, Toronto's Slavic studies program evolved into a specialist centre on Russian and Eastern European politics and economics, financed by the Rockefeller, Ford and Mellon foundations.^[48] The Munk Centre is also home to the G8 Research Group, which conducts independent monitoring and analysis on the Group of Eight and its annual summits. The Trudeau Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies teaches qualitative and quantitative methods for analyzing foreign policy and causes of conflict.^[49]

Several notable works in arts and humanities are based at the university, including the Dictionary of Canadian Biography since 1959 and the Collected Works of Erasmus since 1969.^[50][51] The Records of Early English Drama collects and edits the surviving documentary evidence of dramatic arts in pre-Puritan England,^[52] while the Dictionary of Old English compiles the early vocabulary of the English language from the Anglo-Saxon period.^[53]

In addition to Havelock, Innis, Frye, Carpenter and McLuhan, former professors of the past century include Frederick Banting, H. S. M. Coxeter, Robertson Davies, John Charles Fields, Leopold Infeld and C. B. Macpherson. While comprising just 7 percent of university faculty in Canada, Toronto academics receive international honours and awards in significantly greater proportions.^[54] As of 2006, Toronto accounted for 15 of 23 Canadian members in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (65%) and 20 of 72 Canadian fellows in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (28%).^[54] Among honorees from Canada between 1980 and 2006, Toronto faculty made up 11 of 21 Gairdner Foundation International Award recipients (52%), 44 of 101 Guggenheim Fellows (44%), 16 of 38 Royal Society fellows (42%), 10 of 28 members in the United States National Academies (36%) and 23 of 77 Sloan Research Fellows (30%).^[54]

Faculties and schools of the University of Toronto

Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering Faculty of Arts and Science Faculty of Music Faculty of Nursing Faculty of Pharmacy Faculty of Physical Education and Health

Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design Faculty of Dentistry Faculty of Forestry Faculty of Information Faculty of Law Faculty of Medicine

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education School of Public Health School of Public Policy and Governance Rotman School of Management Faculty of Social Work

[edit] Library and collections

The University of Toronto Libraries is the third-largest academic library system in North America, following those of Harvard and Yale University, measured by number of volumes held.^[55] The collections include more than 10 million printed volumes, 5.4 million microfilms, 70,000 serial titles and more than a million maps, films, graphics and sound recordings.^[56] The largest of the libraries, Robarts Library, holds about five million printed volumes in its fourteen-storey complex, forming the main collection for the humanities and social sciences. The Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library constitutes one of the largest repositories of publicly accessible rare books and manuscripts. Its extensive collections range from ancient Egyptian papyri to incunabula and libretti;^[57] the subjects of focus include British, European and Canadian literature, Aristotle, Darwin, the Spanish Civil War, the history of science and medicine, Canadiana and the history of the book.^[58] Most of the remaining holdings are dispersed at departmental and faculty libraries, in addition to about 1.3 million volumes that are held by the colleges.^[56] The university has collaborated with the Internet Archive since 2005 to digitalize some of its library holdings.^[59]

Housed within University College, the University of Toronto Art Centre contains three major art collections. The Malcove Collection is primarily represented by about five hundred Early Christian and Byzantine sculptures, bronzeware, furniture, icons and liturgical items.^[60] It also includes glassware and stone reliefs from the Greco-Roman period, and the painting Adam and Eve by Lucas Cranach the Elder, dated from 1538.^[60] The University of Toronto Collection features Canadian contemporary art,^[61] while the University College Art Collection holds significant works by the Group of Seven and 19th century landscape artists.^[61]

[edit] Medical institutes

The Faculty of Medicine is affiliated with a comprehensive network of ten teaching hospitals, providing medical treatment, research and advisory services to patients and clients from Canada and abroad. The University Health Network consists of Toronto General Hospital, specialized in cardiology and organ transplants;^[62] Princess Margaret Hospital, dedicated to oncology and home to the Ontario Cancer Institute;^[63] and Toronto Western Hospital for neuroscience and musculoskeletal health.^[64] The Hospital for Sick Children is among the world's largest pediatric medical centres, specializing in treatments for childhood disease and injuries.^[65]

Mount Sinai Hospital's Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute is a major centre for research in tissue engineering and molecular biology.^[66] St. Michael's Hospital and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre are the two largest trauma centres in Canada. The other full affiliates of the university are Bloorview Kids Rehab, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute and Women's College Hospital. Physicians in the medical institutes have cross-appointments to faculty and supervisory positions in university departments.

[edit] Reputation

In the Academic Ranking of World Universities of 2008, the University of Toronto is placed at 24th in the world;^[67] by academic subject, it ranks 21st in engineering and computer science, 27th in medicine, 34th in natural science and mathematics, 48th in life and agricultural sciences, and 51–76th in social science.^[68] The Times Higher Education ranking of 2008 places Toronto at 41st in the world, 9th in natural sciences, 10th in technology, 11th in arts and humanities, 13th in life sciences and biomedicine, and 16th in social sciences.^[69] Toronto is one of five universities in the ranking that places within the top 16 in every subject category. In the Newsweek global university ranking of 2006, Toronto ranked 18th in the world, 9th among public universities and 5th among universities outside the United States.^[70]

The University of Toronto ranked as the nation's top medical-doctoral university in Maclean's magazine for twelve consecutive years between 1994 and 2005.^[71] Since 2006, it has joined 22 other national institutions in withholding data from the magazine, citing continued concerns regarding methodology.^[72] The university places second, tied with Queen's University, in the Maclean's ranking of 2008.^[73] The Faculty of Law is named the top law school in Canada by Maclean's for the second consecutive year, placing first in elite firm hiring, faculty hiring and faculty citations, second in Supreme Court clerkships and fifth in national reach.^[74]

[edit] Research

The University of Toronto has been a member of the Association of American Universities, a consortium of leading research universities in North America, since 1926. The university manages by far the largest annual research budget of any university in Canada, with direct-cost expenditures of $749 million in 2006.^[54][75][76] The federal government was the largest source of funding, with grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council amounting to about one-third of the research budget. About 8 percent of research funding came from corporations, mostly in the health science industry.^[75]

The first practical electron microscope was built by the physics department in 1938.^[77][78] During World War II, the university developed the G-suit, a life-saving garment for fighter pilots in the Royal Air Force and the United States Air Force, later adopted for use by astronauts.^[79] Development of the infrared chemiluminescence technique allowed scientists to conduct detailed analyses of a system's energy behaviours during a chemical reaction.^[80] In 1972, studies on Cygnus X-1 led to the publication of the first observational evidence proving the existence of black holes.^[81] Toronto astronomers have also discovered the Uranus moons of Caliban and Sycorax,^[82] the dwarf galaxies of Andromeda I, II and III, as well as the supernova SN 1987A.

A pioneer in computing technology, the university designed and built UTEC, one of the world's first operational computers, and later purchased Ferut, the second commercial computer after UNIVAC I.^[83] Multi-touch technology was developed at Toronto, and has since found uses ranging from handheld devices to collaboration walls, with new applications still emerging.^[84][85] The university is also a major contributor to the research of wearable computers.^[86][87] The Citizen Lab conducts research on Internet censorship as a joint founder of the OpenNet Initiative,^[88] and is the creator of Psiphon, a software tool used to bypass government content filters.^[89]

The discovery of insulin at the University of Toronto in 1921 is considered one of the most significant events in the history of medicine.^[90][91] Subsequent research on diabetes led to the invention of the glycaemic index as a measure of the effects of carbohydrates on blood glucose levels. The stem cell was discovered at the university in 1963, forming the basis for bone marrow transplantation and all current research on adult and embryonic stem cells.^[92] It was the first of many findings at Toronto relating to stem cells, including the identification of pancreatic and retinal stem cells.^[93][94] The cancer stem cell was first identified in 1997 by Toronto researchers,^[95] who have since found stem cell associations in leukemia, brain tumors and colorectal cancer.^[96][97] The infant cereal Pablum was created in 1931, a product of nutritional science that helped prevent rickets in children. The university investigated the effects and safe techniques of hypothermia, and pioneered the use of protective body cooling during open heart surgery. The first artificial pacemaker was implemented by Toronto cardiac surgeons in 1950. Researchers identified the maturation promoting factor, a protein that regulates cell division and plays a major role in cancers. The first successful single-lung transplant was performed at Toronto in 1981, followed by the first nerve transplant in 1988,^[98] and the first double-lung transplant in 1989. The discovery and cloning of the T-cell receptor in 1984 marked an important advancement in the understanding of immunology. The university is credited with isolating the genes that cause Fanconi anemia, cystic fibrosis and early-onset Alzheimer's disease, among numerous other diseases.

Between 1914 and 1972, the university operated the Connaught Medical Research Laboratories, now part of the pharmaceutical corporation Sanofi-Aventis. Among the research conducted at the laboratory was the development of gel electrophoresis.^[99] After the sale of its laboratory, the university used the proceeds of $29 million to establish the Connaught Fund, which has since grown to be the largest university research grant fund in Canada. As of 2007, the fund awards more than $3.3 million annually in research fellowships, start-up funds and matching grants.

[edit] Athletics

The 44 sports teams of the Varsity Blues represent the university in intercollegiate competitions. The two main leagues in which the Blues participate are Canadian Interuniversity Sport for national competitions, and the auxiliary Ontario University Athletics conference at the provincial level. The athletic nickname of Varsity Blues was not consistently used until the 1930s; previously, references such as "Varsity", "The Big Blue", "The Blue and White" and "The Varsity Blue" also appeared interchangeably.^[100]

North American football traces its very origin to the University of Toronto, with the first documented football game played at University College on November 9, 1861.^[101][102] The Blues played their first intercollegiate football match in 1877 against the University of Michigan, in a game that ended with a scorless draw.^[100] They were defeated in their first match against a Canadian opponent, McGill University, in 1881.^[100] Since intercollegiate seasons began in 1898, the Blues have won four Grey Cup, two Vanier Cup and 25 Yates Cup championships, including the inaugural championships for all three trophies.^[100] However, the football team has hit a rough patch following its last championship in 1993.^[103] From 2001 until 2008, the Blues suffered the longest losing streak in Canadian collegiate history, recording 49 consecutive winless games.^[104] This was preceded by a single victory in 2001 that ended a run of 18 straight losses.^[105]

Formed in 1891, the storied men's ice hockey team has left many legacies on the national, professional and international hockey scenes. Conn Smythe played for the Blues as a centre during his undergraduate years, and was a Blues coach from 1923 to 1926.^[106] When Smythe took over the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1927, the familiar blue-and-white sweater design of the Varsity Blues was adopted by his new team.^[106] Blues hockey competed at the 1928 Winter Olympics and captured the gold medal for Canada.^[107] At the 1980 Winter Olympics, Blues coach Tom Watt served as co-coach of the Canadian hockey team in which six players were Varsity grads.^[106] In all, the Blues have won the University Cup national hockey title ten times, last in 1984. In men's basketball, the Varsity Blues have won 14 conference titles, including the inaugural championship in 1909, but have not won a national title.^[108] In swimming, the men's team has claimed the national crown 16 times since 1964, while the women's team has claimed the crown 14 times since 1970.^[109] The University of Toronto Rowing Club was established in 1897 and is the oldest collegiate rowing club in Canada;^[110] it earned a silver medal for the country in the 1924 Summer Olympics.^[110]

The site of Varsity Stadium has served as the primary playing grounds of the Varsity Blues football and soccer programs for more than a century since 1898. The present structure was built in 2006, replacing an aging stadium that dated to 1924. At various points in its history, the venue had also been home to the Toronto Falcons, the Toronto Blizzard and the Toronto Argonauts, and it hosted the football and soccer preliminaries of the 1976 Summer Olympics. The adjacent Varsity Arena has been the permanent home of the Blues ice hockey programs since it opened in 1926.

[edit] Student life

[edit] Clubs and activities

There are 380 student clubs and organizations associated with the University of Toronto.^[111] Full-time undergraduate student government is headed by the University of Toronto Students' Union, formerly known as the Students' Administrative Council. Graduate students are represented by the Graduate Students' Union, the largest union of its kind in Canada, and part-time undergraduates are represented by the Association for Part-time Undergraduate Students. All three student associations are member locals of the Canadian Federation of Students and these student constituencies are represented on the Governing Council of the university.

U of T has numerous prominent students groups. One of the most notable is the Hart House Debating Club, home to one of the top-ranked debating teams in the world, and champions at the 1981 and 2006 World Universities Debating Championships.^[112]

The United Nations Society has also gained tremendous achievements in the past year with best delegate awards at prestigious Model UN conferences in North America including McGill Model UN (McMUN), the Harvard National Model United Nations, the North American Model UN (NAMUN) and the Canadian International Model United Nations (CANIMUM) in the year 2007-2008.

The University of Toronto chess teams have captured the championship title six times at the Pan American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championships. The event is open to any post-secondary school in the Western Hemisphere.

The University of Toronto Formula SAE Racing Team has also received accolades recently, taking the Formula Student European Championships in 2003, 2005 and 2006 making them one of only five teams to have won three or more championships in this 300 team 26 year old series.^[113]

The University of Toronto is also home to many Greek student organizations,^[114] such as the FSC (Fraternity Sorority Council), although none are officially sponsored by the school.

U of T is home to many undergraduate level student unions that are run by the students for both administrative and helpful purposes. Such unions as the Computer Science Students Union (CSSU) which regularly host events to bring undergraduate students together and give students a chance to meet professors and other like minded people. These unions also serve as a communication device for students to raise comments/concerns that they have with courses and or faculty members.

[edit] Student media

The school has two main newspapers, The Varsity and The Newspaper. Each college, faculty, and many other groups also publish newspapers. CIUT is the campus' radio station.

The Hart House Review (HHR) is a Canadian literary magazine / literary journal which publishes a number of the university's bright and eclectic voices in poetry, fiction and art.

Notable among a number of songs commonly played and sung at various events such as commencement and convocation, and athletic games are: 'The Blue and White,' with words by Rev Claris E. Silcox and music by Clayton E. Bush; 'Honour Old Varsity,' with words by E.C. Acheson and music of Norwegian national anthem; 'Hurrah! for the Blue and White,' with the words by G.W. Ross and music by Elmer H. Smith; 'Varsity,' with words and music by A.E. Wickens.^[115]

[edit] Activism

The University has borne witness to much activism over the years. In 1895, University College students, allegedly led by William Lyon Mackenzie King, boycotted classes for a week after the editor of the Varsity student newspaper was suspended for anti-administration articles. Although King is traditionally given credit for leadership of the strike, recent scholarship has suggested that his involvement has been overstated.^[116]

The 1960s saw the creation of Rochdale College, a large high-rise residence where many students and staff lived. It was not officially connected to the university. Rochdale was established as an alternative to what had been seen as the traditional, authoritarian, and paternalistic structures within universities.^[117] The college eventually became a haven for local drug culture, partially because the student organisers contracted a biker gang to provide security. Due to violent clashes with police, political pressure forced the college to close in 1975.^{[citation needed]}

In the fall of 1969, after Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau decriminalized homosexuality, the University of Toronto Homophile Association, the first gay and lesbian group in Toronto or on any Canadian university campus, was formed. Jearld Moldenhauer, a research assistant at the Faculty of Medicine, placed an advertisement in The Varsity, asking others to join in setting up an organization. While the first meeting drew a meager 16 people — 15 men and one woman — the group quickly established a significant profile within the community and the city at large. Two decades later, David Rayside, a professor of political science, would organize the Committee on Homophobia. Ten years after that, he would help introduce a sexual diversity studies program at University College, to much success.^[118] 35 years after the start of LGBT activism at U of T, the student queer community is represented by the Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Trans People of the University of Toronto (LGBTOUT).

On February 7, 2007, a number of students from all three campuses, joined by many students from across Ontario, staged one of the largest student protests in Canadian history.^{[citation needed]} The student mass, which numbered in the thousands, demanded the provincial government to lower tuition fees. One month later, on March 8, a smaller number of students held another protest on the same issue. This protest, known as the ‘Student Day of Anger’ consisted of a group of students making loud noises outside the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities to mark the one year anniversary of the lift on the tuition fee freeze.^{[citation needed]} University of Toronto has subsequently suspended these students and brought criminal charges against them.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Residences

Student residence is available at the following places at the St. George Campus:^[119]

• 89 Chestnut Residence (located off campus)
• New College
• Innis College
• St. Michael's College
• Trinity College
• University College
• Victoria University
• Woodsworth College
• Annesley Hall, built between 1902 to 1903, is on the Registry of Historic Places of Canada ^[120]

[edit] Notable people

Main article: List of University of Toronto people

[edit] See also

• Canadian Ivy League
• List of Canadian universities by endowment
• List of oldest universities in continuous operation
• Canadian Interuniversity Sport
• Canadian government scientific research organizations
• Canadian university scientific research organizations
• Canadian industrial research and development organizations

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• Claude T. Bissell, Halfway up Parnassus: A Personal Account of the University of Toronto, 1932-1971. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1974.
• Claude T. Bissell "A Proposal for University Government at the University of Toronto." CAUT Bulletin 15, no. 2 (Dec. 1966).
• Alan Bowker "Truly Useful Men: Maurice Hutton, George Wrong, James Mavor, and the University of Toronto, 1880-1927." Ph.D. diss., University of Toronto, 1975.
• Sara Z. Burke 'Seeking the Highest Good: Social Service & Gender at the University of Toronto, 1888-1937' (Toronto: University of Toronto Press)
• Ann Rochon Ford. A Path Not Strewn with Roses: One Hundred Years of Women at the University of Toronto, 1884-1984. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1985.
• Martin L. Friedland 'The University of Toronto: A History' (Toronto: University of Toronto Press © 2002)
• Robin Harris 'A History of University of Toronto' (Toronto: University of Toronto Press © 1970)
• Rick Helmes-Hayes 'Forty Years, 1963-2003: A History of the Department of Sociology, University of Toronto.' (Toronto: Canadian Scholars' Press, 2003, 215 pp.)
• Professor Brian McKillop, 'Matters of Mind: The University in Ontario, 1791-1951' (Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press ©1951)
• Marian Packham '100 Years of Biochemistry at the University of Toronto: An Illustrated History' 1908-2008, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press © 2008)
• Murray G. Ross "The Dilution of Academic Power in Canada: The University of Toronto Act." Minerva 10, no. 2 (Apr. 1972).
• Neil Semple 'Faithful Intellect: Samuel S. Nelles And Victoria University' (Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, September 1, 2004)
• W. Stewart Wallace 'A History of the University of Toronto, 1827-1927.' Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1927.

[edit] External links

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• University of Toronto – Official website
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